11 people have been killed following three bombings which have marred Pakistan's historic election.

THE front-runners in Pakistan's general election have won their seats after millions turned out for the historic vote.

First results began coming through around four hours after polling stations closed at 6pm, having been extended because of the large numbers of people waiting to vote on a dramatic day in which 24 people were killed.

The main issues are the tanking economy, an appalling energy crisis that causes power cuts of up to 20 hours a day, the alliance in the US-led war on Islamist militants, chronic corruption and the dire need for development.

It marks the first time that an elected civilian administration has completed a full term and handed power to another through the ballot box in a country where there have been three military coups and four military rulers.

The front-runner is ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the centre-right Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), but the campaign has been electrified by cricket star Imran Khan with promises of reform and an end to corruption.

Both leaders won seats they had contested in - Khan defeated a strong incumbent in Peshawar, while Nawaz won in the town of Sargodha in his Punjab heartland - with the results announced within minutes of each other.

At PML-N headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore about 300 to 400 supporters who were watching the results coming in on television let out a huge cheer when Sharif's win was announced.

Pakistani political party activists clash near a womens polling station after an incident during voting for the general election in Rawalpindi.

There was no immediate reaction from Khan, who is flat on his back in hospital with broken vertebrae after falling from the stage of an election rally on Tuesday, which prevented him from even voting.

"People have expressed confidence in Imran Khan and have rejected us," former cabinet minister and senior Awami National Party (ANP) member Ghulam Bilour told private Express TV. The seat in Peshawar was one of four that Khan contested.

"I congratulate him," Bilour told the TV channel. The secular ANP led the outgoing government in northwestern province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, of which Peshawar is the capital.

With no reliable polling data, Sharif has been earmarked the most probable winner, but if PTI do well enough to become a formidable opposition there are concerns that the emergent coalition will be weak and possibly short-lived.

An election commission spokesman said turnout was more than 50 per cent and expected to reach up to 60 per cent, which would make it the highest since 1977.

More than 86 million people were eligible to vote for the 342-member national assembly and four provincial assemblies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan.

Pakistani voters lineup at a women's polling station during the general election in Rawalpindi.

Election fever gripped Lahore, where cars, motorbikes and rickshaws festooned with party banners blared out music, and voters draped in flags shouted slogans.

Earlier, queues formed outside polling stations in Pakistan's main cities where people spoke enthusiastically about exercising their democratic right and voting for change, although some expressed nervousness about security.

Voting in Pakistan's financial hub Karachi was marred by allegations of rigging from rival parties, and the election commission ordered a re-vote in more than 30 polling stations in one constituency over accusations of ballot stuffing.

Taliban bombers targeted an ANP candidate, killing 11 other people, including a small child, and wounding around 40, police said. Another person was killed and three wounded when a low-intensity bomb exploded in a bus elsewhere in the city.

Gunmen shot dead ten people in the restive southwest province of Balochistan, where turnout was low, while two people were killed and 11 wounded when a remote-controlled bomb exploded outside a polling station in a Peshawar suburb.

Pakistani relatives mourn over the dead body of a blast victim at a hospital following a bomb explosion in Karachi.

News.com.au's Privacy Policy includes important information about our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information (including to provide you with targeted content and advertising based on your online activities). It explains that if you do not provide us with information we have requested from you, we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. It also explains how you can access or seek correction of your personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with a complaint of that nature.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.